Which is the best handheld/console for RPGs, ever?

PS1 - Xenogears, Vagrant Story, FF7, FF8, Wild Arms, Grandia, Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy Tactics, Chrono Cross, Suikoden I & 2, and more

360 had mass effect and skyrim so it wins by default

PS1/PS2 easily

lol who plays Skyrim on anything other than PC

never said the console version of skyrim was better than the pc. but having shitty gimped skrim is still better than having no skyrim.

As far as my favs go:

SNES > PS1 >>>> PS2

Snes has chrono trigger and FF6. Its wins by default.

SNES

Soul Blazer, FF5, FF6, Mystic Quest, Chrono Trigger.....all classics.

Pretty much a tie between the SNES and PS1. Two different kinds of RPG's but tons of them to offer and all of them quite fantastic.

PS2 comes close to being part of the competition, but it didn't have as many "greats" as the other two.

PC, I know you've tried to lock it out of this conversation but a fact is a fact. The best platform for RPG's is PC, bar none.

I'll drop just one here as evidence

Baldur's Gate

Nothing else needs to be added

Putting my preferences aside, if I were truly trying to look at this objectively, yeah PC takes it. Too many damn rpgs to count and a lot of great ones. Plus having the best versions of most multiplat RPGs.

Baldur's Gate though? Meh. I can think of at least a dozen console RPGs that I prefer.

@ConanTheStoner:

The entire thread is based on opinion so yours is as valid as mine but Baldur's Gate is an RPG master piece. Many have tried to emulate it but very few have even come close. It's the RPG that's held up as a bench mark for other games in the same way as WoW for MMO's.

The rpgs on the SNES were most memorable... And truthfully, many are still relevant.

This is for Jrpgs I suppose then.

The answer would be a tie between the PS3 and GBA.

Definitely pc.

and parasite eve, lunar, saga frontier, FF 1-9, star ocean, legaia, valkyrie profile, tales of destiny, alundra, ... Objectively speaking there's no console with better Jrpg's than the PS1.

I feel like playing chrono cross now though... I have started it several times and when I'm at the end I delete the save file to have an excuse to play it again. I think the time to finally beat the game is gonna be this week before I get piled with work... But man, I have so many other games I want to play too yet I end up playing nothing because I can't decide. When I had fewer games I played more than now that I have lots. -___-

no PC?

Then the one that has most Pokemon. Cuz **** trying to play 99% of WRPGs on consoles. Or 99% of JRPGs in general.

****, this is hard. The SNES is my personal favorite console system for JRPGs, because i love that 16 bit style of lightning-fast pace with no loading times and gorgeous sprite work. If i ever get in the mood, i can start one up and finish it in a weekend. I appreciate that a lot, given my Hell of no free time. I don't like the 5th generation because it bloated the **** out of them (with exceptions like the brilliant Panzer Dragoon Saga). I haven't played many from the 6th gen., and the 7th generation has to few scattered masterpieces like Xenoblade.

The DS is unquestionably the best handheld for JRPGs, i've barely touched the surface and i can easily have a hard time deciding on the best between these two. Given enough time, the DS may come out on top for me.

I voted PS1 simply for FFIX, Vagrant Story, and Chrono Cross. SNES comes a very close second followed by the PS2 and DS.

PS1, and it's really not close.

Gah, I don't know, I can't choose!

PSP -- because you can play 80% of the PS1 library on it (although vita would make even more sense. but that wasn't a choice. Not that it would matter with the enourmous Sony hatting crowd who thinks there can only be one handheld...ughh)

Vita gives you ps1 rpgs, psp rpgs and vita rpgs...

PS2 for me. Baldurs Gate has aged horribly imo, I tried going back and it's just downright unplayable.

SNES

Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy 6, Secret of Mana

SNES/PS1, but then the decision becomes really hard.

I'm surprised the PS2 is lagging behind at only 12% compared to the SNES and PSX at 26-29%. PS2 just has a huge variety and quantity with a fair share of standouts.

PS2 > PSX = SNES > DS

While I agree with both of you, that SNES & PC had some great RPG's; I voted for PS1. For the simple reason I only owned a Genesis & a PS1 with a ton of RPG's. I really missed out on SNES's & PC RPG's back then. PC: Arcanum, Divinity, Fallout, etc. SNES: Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy 6 (though I played this later on GBA), Secret of Mana, etc.

I missed out lol.

Fo sho man. I understand it's a landmark title for the genre. It just didn't resonate with me as well as a lot of other old school rpgs did. Honestly though, was really just trying to get a rise out of ya and instead I got a reasonable response haha. Well played sir, well played.

Shit man, PS1 was great for RPGs, no doubt. One of the best! The only reason why I give the nod to the SNES is because the PS1 games started getting a bit bloated and slow. The SNES titles were faster and just felt more streamlined all around. Same goes for the RPG offerings on the Genesis, they were just fewer in number. Of course these were also refined 2D games rather than primitive 3D games so they've aged much better over the years.

Still though, can't go wrong with the PS1, for me it's a very close 2nd place.

I am going to go with the original DS simply because you get a large number of terrific RPGs from both the DS AND GBA library. Seriously, some of my all time favorite games are on the DS. And there are still others I have yet to play that look great. you really can't beat remakes of terrific old games (ie FF advance games, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Ques IV V and VI) and amazing original ones (Radiant Historia, Knights in the Nightmare, Mario and Luigi).

PS2. An excellent library of its own plus the incredible PS1 library. If you could only buy one console for RPGs that has to be the choice.

For Handheld I'd take any DS model that has a GBA slot.